Cindy Avalos got through a challenging 2020 that as a restaurant manager meant overseeing thin staff doing the work of many as her industry struggled to survive with pick up and delivery orders. For Avalos, it was a continuation of a career working in restaurants that started in her childhood in Harlingen, helping her parents with a Mexican food restaurant. “I have it in my bones,” she said of working…
Peggy Harris offers a full-catering menu from her rural Cameron County on a farm-to-market road that still looks like the Rio Grande Valley of citrus groves and sorghum fields. A mother cow with its young calf munch in a pasture near the garage space-turned-commercial kitchen where Harris has set up her Peggy’s Cakes & More. She said her business has outgrown the compact and efficient kitchen from which she caters…
For Steven Rodriguez, there’s streaming television viewing at home – and then there’s the movies. “The experience of the big screen is something you can’t get at home,” Rodriguez said recently at the Cinemark 16 in Harlingen. “Any big movie, a Marvel or DC, we make a date and we’re here. Let’s get our popcorn and watch it on a big screen.” It’s the movie-returning demographic that the Plano-based Cinemark…
“You are always on my mind” is a fitting theme for Lou’s Brunch & Brews in McAllen. Jose Garcia, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Iesha, chose the name to honor his mom, Guadalupe Garcia. Jose’s dad, Tim Garcia, affectionately calls her “Lou.” “I want to be reminded of her every day,” Jose said. His mother epitomizes strength and courage as she is currently undergoing cancer treatments for the…
Joe Garcia leans out of his Casa de Hibachi food truck to talk cuisine. “We did research, at first watching more for amusement, but then we figured let’s do this,” Garcia said of he and his partner Ray Cano. “Let’s add our twist to it, cilantro, limes, the things from our culture. So that’s what we’ve got, a fusion.” The mixing of Japanese and Mexican food cultures is just one…
The intersection of 2nd Street and FM 491 for decades is where Mercedes residents and commuting Rio Grande Valley motorists could find the Ten-Ten Grocery Store. The beloved store that sold comic books, pickles and fishing bait closed in 2013. There’s a new business rising on the very spot where the Ten-Ten stood. It’s a Sonic Crush Drive-In. Community and business leaders gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the…
The Texas Restaurant Association and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission have launched a new effort to promote TABC’s certification course on alcohol delivery safety. The Texas Responsible Alcohol Delivery Course shares with delivery drivers and foodservice establishment operators the necessary information to safely conduct alcohol-to-go deliveries. The TRA has added the course to its catalog of training resources available for members across the state. The course is for persons who deliver…
Manuel Alvarez describes himself as a persistent sort, who once putting his mind to something is not easily deterred. Those personal attributes were put to the test when Alvarez took on the challenge of being a baker of detail-heavy Japanese cotton cheesecakes. With the help of his wife Nadia Escalante, Alvarez would “start a business out of nowhere.” Rio Grande Valley communities are dotted with pan dulce shops and long-standing…
It’s a February afternoon that’s warm and sunny with a crispness in the air from preceding days where overnight lows hovered around freezing. Roy Landa is walking around the grounds of The Landmark on Tower. Traffic goes over the railroad tracks by the combination food truck park/restaurant on Tower Road in Alamo. Thick-trunked oak trees loom over green turf and stylish picnic tables. Under the old oaks, customers go through…
Gabriel Fuentes attended PSJA High School where his father, Edgar, led the band. After graduating, he headed to Houston for college, working part time at a popular restaurant. It was where Gabriel got his first taste of cooking. He savored it. “Life happened,” he said, and college and cooking were traded for construction. Fuentes opened a company in Houston before eventually returning to Alamo. He stayed in the construction business. An…